JCB Confirms £400 Christmas Bonus for UK Employees

More than 5,000 JCB employees in the UK are celebrating
news of a £400 Christmas bonus.

The pay out was confirmed by the company this morning and means
employees at the firm’s 11 plants in Staffordshire, Derbyshire
and Wrexham will share in a festive bonus pot worth more than £2
million.

The news comes two days after it was announced that UK shop floor
employees had voted in favour of a 2.2% pay rise linked to November’s
Retail Price Index (RPI) as part a new three year deal.

The Christmas bonus comes in a year in which JCB launched the
revolutionary Hydradig excavator – a brand new product innovation
which generated hundreds of new orders and created around 85 jobs
at JCB
Heavy Products in Uttoxeter. This year has also been a year
of other milestones: the production of the 100,000th JCB mini excavator
and 200,000th Loadall
telescopic handler, the presentation of three
Queen’s Awards honouring innovation and exports and the centenary
of the birth of JCB’s Founder, Joseph
Cyril Bamford CBE.

JCB
CEO Graeme Macdonald said:
“While global construction equipment
markets have remained fragile during 2016, JCB has made some good
progress and has grown its share in a declining market. We expect
continued market fragility next year but we enter 2017 with a
degree of confidence driven by the recent introduction of innovative
new products. I’m delighted that Lord Bamford has agreed to award
a Christmas bonus in 2016 and I thank everyone for their commitment
and hard work this year in such a difficult economic climate.”

Luke Ellis, 25, of Stone, said:
“Receiving a Christmas bonus
is a great way to round off the year. It gives everyone a real
buzz.”

Caroline Potter, aged 29, of Tutbury, near Burton-on-Trent, joined
JCB in 2013. She said:
“I’ve received two Christmas bonuses before
and it’s always great to get one. It’s not something we take for
granted and it’s fantastic to get this recognition.”